I had asked Kazu about a month back if he was ever thinking of doing a monkey being they are a bit on the vinyl trend right now. And here it is. Looks like another trademark toy with Mirock again sculpting.

Yeah. That thing is nuts. He had to make 8 different masks to do the paint on them! I'm pretty sure it is based on a 1970s version of the Saiyuuki legend. I think most folks around here would know it as the Monkey King or Wu Kong. There will be overseas sales but I'm not clear if this is an even release or if it is going to be only an online sale.

Someone's got a Pinehead on eBay. I'm tempted, but I got my green one at such a steal ($50 shipped I think ) that I have a hard time pulling the trigger. Def one of my fave Kazu pieces though. I used to have a real hedgehog.

I was sitting on a train platform with Kazu one evening when he showed me his sketchbook with various ideas for new figures. One of the ones he really liked was this little hedgehog but he couldn't come up with a name. He said he wanted the character to be kinda dumb but kind. Manuke is how you would describe it in Japanese. It isn't exactly stupid but something along those lines. I mentioned using a bit of a pun by calling him pinhead. He asked me to explain the joke so I told him about the slang use of pinhead being juxtaposed with the fact that hedgehogs are basically balls covered in pins. He thought that was pretty good and attached the Iti to denote he's small. We got on our separate trains and headed home and I thought nothing of it really. I got an email a bit later conveying Kazu's thanks for the name 'Iti Pinehead' and that it was going to be produced. I immediately emailed back and explained the spelling error and that Pine is matsu in Japanese (like the tree). He actually liked the idea since he thought the character looked a bit like a pine cone so the name stuck. There you have it, another Kazu minute brought to you by an evening of monjayaki and a couple of beers.

Yardarm51 wrote:I was sitting on a train platform with Kazu one evening when he showed me his sketchbook with various ideas for new figures. One of the ones he really liked was this little hedgehog but he couldn't come up with a name. He said he wanted the character to be kinda dumb but kind. Manuke is how you would describe it in Japanese. It isn't exactly stupid but something along those lines. I mentioned using a bit of a pun by calling him pinhead. He asked me to explain the joke so I told him about the slang use of pinhead being juxtaposed with the fact that hedgehogs are basically balls covered in pins. He thought that was pretty good and attached the Iti to denote he's small. We got on our separate trains and headed home and I thought nothing of it really. I got an email a bit later conveying Kazu's thanks for the name 'Iti Pinehead' and that it was going to be produced. I immediately emailed back and explained the spelling error and that Pine is matsu in Japanese (like the tree). He actually liked the idea since he thought the character looked a bit like a pine cone so the name stuck. There you have it, another Kazu minute brought to you by an evening of monjayaki and a couple of beers.

I assume most of the HCIP folk here have seen this already but Kazu has put up a picture of the new complete Astronaut figures. However the interesting bit is the picture in the background. That's a ninja figure and his frog buddy he originally did back in 2008 or so. I thought I recognized it from his pre-Himalan days when he made super low run resin figs and he confirmed this. He also added, "Next Figure. " A new vinyl coming from Itokin? Yes please!